PeA.e.xrs'Vv  oye 


THE 


REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


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' •; . 

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THE 


REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 

AN  EASTER  SERMON. 


PREACHED  IN  THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  CHICAGO, 
SUNDAY,  APRIL  1 7,  1 892,  BY  THE  PASTOR, 


^ Rev.  JOHN  HENRY  BARROWS,  D.  D. 


PRINTED  BT  REQUEST. 


CHICAGO: 

Printed  by  THE  CRAIG  PRESS,  Publishers  and  Designers. 
178-182  Monroe  Street. 

1892. 


! 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries  ' 


https://archive.org/details/reunionofchristeOObarr 


THE  REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


Colossi ans  3:  1. — “If  ye  then  be  risen  with  Christ,  seek  those  things 
which  are  above,  where  Christ  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  God.” 

The  resurrection  of  Christ  lifts  His  people  into  a 
life  filled  with  diviner  hopes  and  heavenlier  affections. 
Of  all  the  days  of  the  year  this  is  a day  for  great 
thoughts  of  God  and  man.  It  is  not  a day  for  littleness, 
for  contention,  for  narrow-mindedness,  for  despair.  It 
is  a day  when  our  hearts  are  drawn  upward  to  the  ex- 
alted Christ  and  outward  to  each  other.  It  is  a day 
when  our  loved  ones,  who  have  passed  from  sight  and 
have  entered  into  Paradise,  seem  nearer  to  us  and 
dearer,  because  transfigured.  It  was  the  habit  of  Paul, 
in  his  magnificent  exhortations,  to  draw  our  thoughts 
to  the  greatest  truth.  His  glorious  hopefulness,  and 
his  sublime  faith  came  from  the  risen  and  living  Christ. 
He  entreated  the  .Ephesian  disciples  to  lift  their  minds 
on  high,  to  set  their  affections  on  celestial  things.  In 
other  words,  Paul  made  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  an 
argument  for  diviner  living.  Lifting  our  hearts  to  Him 
who  is  the  Head  of  the  Church,  and  who,  in  His  heav- 
enly glory,  beholds  the  Church  as  His  own  body,  through 
which  his  life-blood  pulses  and  thrills,  we  become 
great-minded. 

I think  we  are  disposed  on  such  days  as  these,  to 
take  broader  and  brighter  views  of  our  own  individual 
life  and  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  on  earth.  Except  at 
Christmas  time  the  Church  is  never  so  exalted  in 
feeling  and  so  one  in  spirit  as  on  Easter  Sunday. 


4 


Though  even  to-day  there  are  some  elements  of  dis- 
cord apparent,  since  the  Greek  Church  is  divided  from 
western  Christendom  and  following  her  ancient  custom 
celebrates  on  the  coming  Sunday  the  rising  of  the  Lord, 
still  so  large  a part  of  the  Christian  world  is  commem- 
orating the  greatest  of  historical  events  that  we  realize 
in  ample  measure  the  unity  of  Christian  faith  and  love. 
This  is  the  great  Lord’s  day  in  which  the  glories  of 
other  Lord’s  days  appear  to  be  concentrated  and  inten- 
sified. When  I read  the  arguments  of  men  who  would 
keep  the  seventh  day  rather  than  the  first  as  the  Chris- 
tian’s holy  day,  it  always  seems  to  me  that  they  mistake 
and  under-rate  the  significance  of  the  resurrection  of 
Christ.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  creation  of  the  world 
from  which  God  rested  on  the  seventh  day  is  almost 
meaningless  beside  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  which  the 
Lord  accomplished  on  the  first  day.  The  Christian 
Sunday  is  grander  and  brighter  than  any  Jewish  Sab- 
bath. There  was  no  need  of  any  positive  instruc- 
tion to  lead  the  early  Church  to  celebrate  the  first 
day  of  the  week.  Guided  by  the  Holy  Ghost  in 
their  own  hearts,  following  the  impulses  of  their  own 
gratitude,  I do  not  see  how  they  could  havedone  other- 
wise. Many  a time  they  sang  in  spirit,  though  not  in 
the  modern  words,  our  inspiring  hymn: 

“O  day  of  rest  and  gladness, 

O day  of  joy  and  light, 

O balm  of  care  and  sadness, 

Most  beautiful,  most  bright. 

On  thee  the  high  and  lowly 
Bending  before  the  throne, 

Sing,  Holy,  Holy,  Holy, 

To  the  great  Three  in  One.” 

I shall  utilize  this  day  on  which  the  Church  so 
largely  realizes  its  unity,  to  speak  to  you  on  the  reunion 


5 


of  Christendom,  which  is  the  next  greatest  event  that 
lies  before  the  people  of  God.  The  prayer  and  the 
purpose  of  Christ  are  not  to  be  defeated.  The  Church, 
which  was  one  during  the  forty  days  when  the  risen 
Savior  walked  with  His  few  humble  disciples  in  Judeaand 
Galilee,  is  yet  to  be  one — one  in  spirit,  one  in  effort,  one  in 
purpose  and  one  in  its  essential  outward  manifestations. 
I do  not  mean  that  men  are  to  be  robbed  of  their 
peculiarities,  that  men  are  to  be  alike  in  their  intellec- 
tual habits  and  preferences,  and  in  all  their  convictions, 
or  that  they  are  to  adopt  the  same  ecclesiastical  usages, 
but  I am  certain  that  the  present  painful  divisions  of 
Christendom  are  transitory;  that  there  is  to  be  a large 
unity  in  essentials,  great  liberty  in  non-essentials  and 
true  Christian  charity  in  all  things. 

I have  no  confidence  that  any  central  hierarchy, 
with  a world-wide  organization,  is  to  dominate  the 
nations.  There  is  a better  and  grander  and  truer  unity 
than  that.  The  indications  are,  however,  that  bodies  of 
Christians  who  are  naturally  affiliated,  whose  differences 
are  trivial,  will  come  together,  and  that,  then,  churches 
which,  though  bearing  different  names,  are  substantially 
one,  will  come  into  co-operation  and  ultimately  into 
union,  and  that  in  the  evolution  which  is  rapidly  going 
on,  in  the  training  of  bigger  brains  and  bigger  hearts, 
those  who  have  been  long  sundered  by  the  memory  of 
past  alienations  and  misunderstandings  will  come  into 
substantial  accord.  We  may  not  prophesy  the  details 
of  the  future,  but  it  is  apparent  that  the  centrifugal 
forces  are  lessening  and  the  centripetal  forces  are  gain- 
ing, and  that  this  change  is  being  rapidly  accelerated. 

I shall  not  be  surprised  if  there  come  into  existence 
great  brotherhoods  of  Christian  unity,  whose  numbers 
will  ultimately  be  so  large  as  to  comprise  almost  the  en- 
tire membership  of  the  churches,  and  that,  gradually, 


6 


possibly  speedily,  ecclesiastical  organizations  will  be  re- 
moulded, adapted  to  new  necessities  and  readjusted  to 
the  broader  spirit  of  the  more  enlightened  coming  age. 
Spiritual  unity  will  fashion  some  forms  of  outward 
unity,  and  the  outward  unity  will  not  be  built  up  so 
much  on  theological,  as  on  fraternal  foundations.  It  will 
be  the  heart  rather  than  the  head  that  will  bring  men 
together. 

It  is  being  forced  upon  us  by  the  necessities  of  our 
times,  by  the  scandal  and  weakness  of  schism,  that  the 
churches  shall  get  closer  to  each  other.  Men  who  are 
pronounced  in  their  denominational  preferences  are 
pleading  for  the  co-operation  of  denominations.  A 
common  effort  to  accomplish  moral  and  spiritual  ends 
is  becoming  a necessity.  At  the  meetings  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Alliance,  Congregationalists  like  Dr.  R.  S.  Storrs 
on  the  one  hand,  and  Episcopalians  like  the  late  Bishop 
H arris  of  Michigan  on  the  other,  have  advocated  the 
plan  which  puts  combination  in  the  place  of  division, 
and  co-operation  in  the  place  of  competition  among 
our  American  churches.  We  must  build  on  larger 
plans;  we  are  too  slow  in  carrying  our  convictions  into 
execution.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  present  Chris- 
tian generation  should  let  most  men  go  to  the  bad  in 
other  lands  as  well  as  in  this.  We  are  seeing  how 
ridiculous  it  is  to  limit  our  efforts  to  any  one  people. 
I doubt  if  there  is  a soul  here  this  morning  who 
would  re-write  the  Lord’s  Prayer  after  the  fashion 
which  I saw  suggested  the  other  day,  and  say:  “Our 
Father  which  art  in  America,  Thy  Kingdom  come  in 
America,  Thy  will  be  done  in  America.  Give  us  this 
day  in  America  our  daily  bread  and  forgive  us  our  debts 
in  America,”  and  so  on  to  the  end.  We  are  trying  to 
catch  Christ’s  thought  and  that  is  as  great  as  the  world. 
We  are  trying  to  see  Christ’s  plan,  and  in  the  light  of  it 


Presbyterianism  seems  much  smaller  than  Christianity; 
denominationalism  appears  only  the  stepping-stone  to 
something  higher  and  more  Christian.  No  one  frag- 
ment of  the  Church  is  to  be  compared  with  the  Church, 
and  no  one  fragment  of  humanity  with  humanity. 

Two  of  the  greatest  needs  of  our  time  are;  first,  the 
simplification  of  theology,  its  reduction,  so  far  as  co- 
operation is  concerned,  to  the  common  denominator  of 
all  Christians;  and  secondly,  the  getting  together,  the 
practical  union,  of  believers  in  Jesus  Christ.  I know 
that  it  is  very  delightful  to  associate  and  to  work  with 
those  who  think  almost  entirely  as  we  do  in  all  things; 
it  does  not  need  much  grace  or  much  wisdom  or  much 
large-mindedness  for  those  entirely  agreed  to  co-oper- 
ate. And  doubtless  the  Church  is  not  as  yet  edu- 
cated to  that  point  where  men  are  ready  to  come 
together  by  those  great  things  which  they  have  in 
common.  But,  thank  God!  the  tendency  is  in  that  way. 

The  higher  up  you  go  on  a Swiss  mountain  the 
smaller  relatively  appear  the  foot-hills  which  you  once 
saw  from  below.  We  could  not  get  the  Presbyterian 
Church  to-day  to  quarrel  as  our  fathers  did  over 
the  questions  which  divided  them  in  the  days  of 
Albert  Barnes  and  Lyman  Beecher.  The  questions 
which  agitate  us  now  concern  things  more  funda- 
mental than  theories  about  natural  and  moral  in- 
ability and  our  connections  with  Adam’s  transgres- 
sion. They  relate  to  the  Bible,  the  groundwork 
of  all  our  special  knowledge,  and  even  here  the 
differences  are  not  so  wide  as  some  imagine,  and  tehe 
bitterness  will  be  very  mild  compared  with  that  which 
was  injected  into  the  controversies  of  fifty  years  ago. 

There  are  certain  great  things  which  all  Christians 
more  and  more  aim  at.  We  test  doctrine  by  character 
and  life,  we  are  trying  to  rescue  men  from  sin  and  to 


8 


construct  in  them  a noble  Christian  manhood.  We  are 
judging  doctrines  by  their  effects,  and  the  tendency  in 
a growing  measure  is  toward  union  rather  than  divi- 
sion. What  stands  in  the  way  of  a more  perfect  co- 
operation? I reply  in  part,  selfishness,  denominational 
selfishness,  a willingness  to  postpone  reunion  and  even 
co-operation,  in  the  hope  that  our  own  Church  may  be 
the  final  Church,  the  rallying-point  around  which  others 
will  gather,  or  may  come  in  for  a greater  share  of  the 
spiritual  riches  gained  in  the  conquest  of  the  world. 
Think  for  a moment  of  the  two  greatest  churches  in 
Christendom,  the  Greek  and  the  Latin,  numberingmore 
than  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  communicants, 
or  of  people  nominally  connected  with  them,  We  al- 
most forget  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  their  separation 
many  hundred  years  ago,  that  one  held  that  the  pro- 
cession of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  from  the  Father,  and 
the  other  from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  or  as  in  the 
Latin,  Filioque.  Now,  we  all  know  that  such  a differ- 
ence of  doctrine  as  that,  and  some  of  us  know  that  the 
Filioque  controversy,  which  exasperated  and  tore  apart 
great  churches,  is  of  no  practical  amount.  As  one  has 
said  “it  has  absolutely  no  perceptible  influence  upon  the 
ordinary  daily  life  of  the  average  citizen.”  But  after 
churches  get  apart,  animosities  are  deepened  often- 
times, or  the  memory  of  past  separations  and  new  and 
growing  ecclesiastical  interests  and  ambitions  keep  them 
separate.  Both  of  these  great  Churches  have  truth 
enough  to  save  all  souls.  The  truth  may  be  largely 
mixed  with  error,  and  they  may  rely  far  less  upon  truth 
and  love  than  upon  organizations  and  sacraments.  But 
in  spite  of  separation,  the  noblest  Christians,  those 
nearest  to  Christ,  in  these  two  immense  churches,  must 
realize  their  unity.  Their  priests  may  quarrel  over  the 
holy  places  of  Palestine,  and  their  scholars  may  dispute 


9 


over  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  But  men  living 
near  to  God,  whether  they  look  to  the  supreme  Pontiff 
at  Rome  or  to  the-  Patriarch  in  Constantinople,  or  to 
the  Procurator  of  the  Holy  Synod  in  St.  Petersburg,  must 
realize  in  some  measure  that,  since  Christ  is  their  Lord 
and  Savior,  they  belong  to  each  other  as  well  as  to 
Him.  It  is  in  His  Name  they  are  baptized,  it  is  His 
Cross,  whatever  the  different  forms  of  the  crucifixes  in 
the  Greek  and  Latin  churches,  that  brings  them  salva- 
tion. It  is  in  His  resurrection  that  they  have  hope  and 
His  will  be  the  blessed  and  prevailing  Name  whisp- 
ered in  their  dying  breath. 

Churches  are  kept  apart  to-day  partly  by  the  memory 
of  old  divisions,  partly  by  a great  mass  of  ecclesiastical 
and  theological  rubbish,  partly  by  selfishness,  partly  by 
an  unintelligent  conservatism  and  by  ill-founded  fears 
and  dense  ignorance  of  other  denominations,  and 
by  lack  of  brotherliness,  and  partly,  also,  by  a lack 
of  education  in  those  higher  truths,  living  by  which, 
men  care  less  and  less  for  minor  distinctions.  In  view 
of  .the  necessities  of  our  time,  in  view  of  the  great  work 
which  God  has  given  us  to  do,  in  view  of  the  practical 
problems  which  are  before  us,  it  seems  to  me  that  this 
tinkering  and  trimming  of  the  Westminster  Confession 
is  not  the  grandest  business  in  which  the  great  Presby- 
terian Church  of  America  should  be  engaged.  I have 
never  disguised  my  conviction  that  that  Confession  does 
not  represent  fairly  what  the  Church  deems  the  living, 
important  and  supreme  truths  of  the  Christian  Gospel, 
in  this  age  of  Christian  missions  and  growing  fraternity. 
If  we  would  adapt  ourselves  to  the  exigencies  and  op- 
portunities of  the  times,  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  we 
might  most  wisely  lay  aside  the  old  Confession,  and  give 
to  the  world,  in  compact  form  and  stirring  phrase,  such  a 
Christian  Creed  as  fairly  represents  the  Church  of  to- 


10 


day.  I believe  that  our  Presbyterian  brethren  in  Eng- 
land have  pursued  the  right  method,  and  that  we  should 
follow  their  example.  There  is  no  reason  that  justifies 
itself  to  broad  common  sense,  why  the  Presbyterian 
churches  of  this  land,  of  all  names,  should  not  come 
into  organic  unity,  and  why  the  Presbyterian  churches 
of  all  lands  should  not  come  into  immediate  co-opera- 
tion on  the  basis  of  those  supreme  things  which  are 
assuredly  believed  among  us.  And  I am  of  the  opinion 
that  while  Calvinism  may  well  be  taught  in  our  semi- 
naries, there  is  no  reason  why  Calvinism  in  any  of  its 
distinctive  forms,  should  be  embodied  in  the  Church’s 
Creed.  By  this  I do  not  say  that  Calvinism  is  not  true, 
but  I mean  to  say  it  is  not  such  a truth,  or  system  of 
truth,  as  should  be  set  up  for  an  ecclesiastical  barrier 
between  us  and  other  denominations.  As  the  Congre- 
gationalists  have  lost  nothing  vital  since  they  ceased 
making  Calvinism  a test  in  the  ministry,  so  we  too,  doing 
the  same,  would  lose  nothing  vital,  and  we  would'  be 
certain  to  come  into  more  catholic  relations  with  other 
churches. 

There  is  not  one  man  in  a hundred  in  the  Methodist 
and  Presbyterian  churches  to-day  who  can  define  the 
differences  between  Calvinists  and  Arminians,  and  why 
should  an  undefined  and  unknown  quantity,  a meta- 
physical interpretation  of  divine  decrees  over  which 
scholars  are  divided,  keep  Christians  apart  who  are 
equally  earnest,  equally  devout  and,  in  different  direc- 
tions, equally  successful  ? So  long  as  all  C hristians  pray 
to  God  as  though  everything  depended  on  Him,  and  work 
for  God  as  though  everything  depended  on  themselves, 
we  should  not  let  such  theological  distinctions  remain 
as  perpetual  barriers  to  reunion,  and  they  will  not  re- 
main. 

The  time  is  nearly  past  when  there  was  any  truth 


1 1 


in  the  proverb:  “I  know  they  are  Christians,  for  they 
quarrel  so.”  The  noises  of  discord  are  being  drowned 
in  the  notes  of  concord.  The  business  men,  the  practi- 
cal men  in  our  churches,  especially  those  living  in  great 
cities,  and  enlightened  by  perceiving  the  needs  of  our 
time,-  are  going  to  teach  some  lessons  to  would-be 
ecclesiastical  leaders.  Christian  evangelization  is  a 
very  pressing  problem,  and  progress  will  be  slow  until 
we  get  the  common  sense  of  average  men  on  our  side. 
Talk  of  evangelizing  our  cities!  Why,  to  many  it 
means  the  building  of  a few  more  Baptist,  Methodist, 
Presbyterian  or  other  churches.  It  means  perpetuating 
present  divisions  which  are  not  vety  profitable,  or  wise 
or  rational.  So  multitudes  of  Christian  business  men 
think,  and  a growing  number  of  them,  especially  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  prefer  giving  their  money  to  purely 
Christian  work.  I would  not  lessen  one  particle  any 
man’s  loyalty  to  his  denomination.  I believe  heartily 
in  my  own,  but  I am  pointing  out  tendencies  which  are, 
on  the  whole,  promising  and  hopeful.  God  has  us  in 
hand  and  He  is  going  to  give  us  some  lessons  that  we 
shall  not  forget.  And  I am  thankful  for  all  the  great 
interdenominational  societies,  especially  those  of  young 
men  and  women  that  are  showing  us  how  much  we  have 
in  common. 

A few  years  ago  the  House  of  Bishops,  meeting  in 
Chicago,  proposed  a basis  of  union  for  evangelical 
churches.  They  enumerated  four  points  that  were 
essential.  Now  three  of  these  points  most  American 
Protestants  believe  to  be  essential.  The  fourth  point, 
what  is  called  the  historic  episcopate,  they  think  is  non- 
essential.  But  as  Bishop  Coxe  recently  said,  before  we 
blame  the  Episcopalians  for  sticking  to  what  we  deem 
a non-essential  point,  we  ought  to  ask,  why  do  not  the 
churches,  like  the  Congregationalist,  Presbyterian, 


12 


Baptist  and  Methodist,  why  do  not  they  come  together 
on  those  three  points  which  they  deem  essential?  I 
have  no  doubt  that  such  a union  is  to  be  achieved,  per- 
haps in  our  own  time.  As  Saul  found  it  difficult  to  kick 
against  the  ox-goads,  so  the  churches  will  find  it  in- 
creasingly hard  to  kick  against  those  points  of  theology 
and  of  the  sacraments  which  they  regard  as  non-essen- 
tial, and  to  fail  to  unite  on  the  basis  of  those  things  which 
they  deem  to  be  fundamental.  There  is  a tendency  on 
the  part  of  many  Christians  to  go  back  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, and  to  inquire  if  it  be  not  possible,  on  the  basis  of 
the  early  Church,  to  find  the  ground  of  present  reunion. 
I see  one  good  reason  for  approving  such  a plan. 
In  the  fourth  century  the  Christian  Church  became 
allied  to  the  Roman  Empire,  and  entered  upon  a non- 
Christian  evolution.  It  took  upon  it  excrescences 
harmful  or  largely  useless.  It  absorbed  much  of  the 
secular  empire.  To  use  the  popular  phrase,  it  bit  off 
more  heathenism  than  it  could  comfortably  chew  and 
successfully  digest  and  assimilate.  Therefore  it  may  be 
well  to  go  back  of  the  Council  of  Nice,  to  go  back  to 
the  Apostolic  Church.  But,  dear  friends,  God  is  work- 
ing to-day  as  truly  as  in  the  first  century,  and  though 
we  may  be  enlightened  and  guided  by  what  we  observe 
in  the  earliest  Christian  ages,  we  may  also  be  instructed 
by  what  is  going  on  about  us.  There  is  a trend  dis- 
coverable, there  is  a drawing  together  of  Christian 
hearts  about  the  Cross  and  broken  tomb  of  Christ. 

Good  men  are  not  contented  with  praising  them- 
selves; they  are  finding  and  eulogizing  the  good  seen 
in  other  denominations.  Baptist  piety,  and  Methodist 
piety,  and  Presbyterian  piety,  and  Lutheran  piety,  and 
Catholic  piety,  are  all  praiseworthy  and  divine.  Those 
who  have  passed  from  one  denomination  to  another 
have  had  theireyes  and  their  hearts  opened.  It  is  a good 


i3 


thing  for  some  men  to  have  belonged  to  two  denomina- 
tions. I asked  the  Rev.  Dr.  Noble  the  other  day  if  he 
knew  of  any  good  reason  why  the  Congregationalists  and 
Presbyterians  should  not  unite.  I know  that  the  late  Pro- 
fessor Phelps  had  argued  for  that  union  of  Christians 
so  closely  affiliated.  Dr.  Noble  said  “There  is  no  good 
reason  in  the  world  why  they  should  not  come  to- 
gether.” When  the  late  Professor  Calvin  E.  Stowe,  of 
Hartford,  was  dying,  he  asked  a friend  to  find  out  if  his 
name  was  still  on  the  roll  of  the  Presbytery.  He  was 
then  a Congregationalist.  He  learned  that  it  was,  and 
was  glad,  and  then  he  said:  “If  I had  my  life  to  live 
over  again  I would  belong  to  all  of  the  denominations.” 
Personally,  I am  determined  that  nothing  shall  keep 
me  from  entering  into  the  heartiest  sympathy  with  all. 
I prefer  to  see  the  good  things  rather  than  the  evil  in 
all  bodies  of  Christians.  No  Pope  can  excommunicate 
me  from  being  a good  Catholic^  I shall  never  cease  to 
cherish  grateful  thoughts  of  the  English  Church  so  long 
as  the  books  of  her  scholars  occupy  so  large  a place  in 
my  library.  Spurgeon  has  helped  me  to  be  a good 
Baptist,  and  Robert  Hall  and  Judson  and  John  Foster 
and  John  Bunyan  have  helped  to  dothesame.  So  long 
as  I hold  a modern  hymn  book  in  my  hand  I shall  be  a 
good  Methodist.  Friends,  I believe  it  is  a mistake,  it 
hurts  our  own  souls,  to  fix  our  thoughts  chiefly  on  what 
we  deem  the  defects  of  other  Christian  bodies.  The 
result  is  narrow  Presbyterians  and  poor  Christians. 
What  our  age  wants  is  bigger-minded  men.  Men  are 
not  great  on  account  of  their  denominational  connec- 
tion, not  on  account  of  their  ecclesiasticism,  but  on  ac- 
count of  service  and  character.  The  late  Cardinal 
Manning,  mourned  by  millions  of  the  poor,  belonged 
to  the  Church  universal.  His  Christianity  was  greater 
than  his  Cardinal’s  hat,  and  more  divine  than  his 


14 


princely  office.  We  have  all  heard  of  the  woman  who 
said,  “I  am  not  sure  that  I am  a Christian,  but  I know 
that  I am  a Baptist.”  And  I have  met  several  men 
who  made  no  pretensions  to  being  religious,  who  were 
very  pronounced  and  bigoted  Presbyterians. 

In  pleading  for  a broader  outlook  and  a larger 
fellowship  and  a closer  union  of  the  followers  of  Christ, 
I cannot  forget  the  waste  and  inefficiency  which  belong 
to  our  present  methods  of  Christian  work.  You  may 
know  that  in  the  town  of  Wichita,  Kansas,  there  are  eight 
denominational  Christian  colleges,  and  in  hundreds  of 
communities  throughout  this  great  West,  communities 
of  from  three  hundred  to  two  thousand  people,  there 
are  from  four  to  twelve  rival  and  diminutive  churches, 
each  striving  for  a hold  and  draining  from  our  Chris- 
tian work  an  immense  amount  of  money  which  ought 
to  be  utilized  in  our  imperiled  cities.  It  is  said  there 
are  seventeen  different  forms  of  Christianity  which  ai^ 
struggling  for  a foothold  in  Japan.  How  much  nobler 
and  deeper  the  enthusiasm  which  will  be  kindled  when 
our  churches  are  brought  into  closer  fellowship,  when 
such  anomalies  are  removed,  when  Christian  disciples 
unite  on  a broad,  true  and  simple  working-platform, 
and  when  the  pledge  which  men  take  in  entering  our 
churches  is  not  in  effect  a promise  to  aid  in  the  building 
up  of  one  denomination,  oftentimes  at  the  expense  of 
others,  and  still  oftener  to  the  loss  of  that  Kingdom 
which  was  founded  by  our  Lord.  Church  membership 
ought  to  mean  a pledge  to  actively  co-operate  with  all 
* Christians  in  certain  definite  and  self-sacrificing  Chris- 
tian work.  A better  test  of  true  discipleship  than  those 
usually  applied  would  be  a declared  willingness  to  enter 
into  an  army  that  meansconquest,  like  General  Booth’s; 
to  enter  a school  where  discipline  and  obedience  are 
demanded,  to  undertake  a work  where  self-denial  is  re- 


i5 


quired.  I know  that  this  Christian  age  demands  more 
freedom  of  thought.  It  will  never  take  less.  It  re- 
quires that  large  liberty  should  be  allowed  as  to  ques- 
tions of  belief.  There  are  some  yokes  which  it  will  not 
bear  and  ought  not  to  bear;  but  the  more  Christian  it 
becomes,  the  more  willing  it  will  be  to  take  on  the 
military  form,  to  promise  obedience  to  the  Christian 
law  of  self-sacrifice,  to  subordinate  self  to  the  needs  of 
the  world.  Thus  men  will  come  together  in  the  service 
of  man,  and  reunion  will  not  be  based  so  much  on  ritual 
or  on  intellectual  belief  as  on  a common  purpose  to 
make  this  world  less  like  hell.  The  Church  of  God  will 
be  fired  with  the  love  of  man.  A reunited  Christendom 
will  be  the  great  peacemaker  among  the  jarring  inter- 
ests that  disturb  our  industrial  life.  Christians  co- 
operating will  take  hold  vigorously  of  the  crime  ques- 
tion, the  saloon  question,  the  child  question,  the  Sunday 
question,  the  poverty  question,  the  great  issues  of  war 
and  peace  among  nations.  Whereas  they  are  now 
weak  because  acting  separately,  they  will  become  power- 
ful when  acting  together.  There  are  Christian  forces 
in  English-speaking  lands  to-day  which,  if  united,  could 
prevent  the  opium  trade  in  China  and  the  destructive 
liquor  traffic  in  Africa;  and  I thank  God  on  this  Easter 
Sunday  that  the  tendencies  which  are  bringing  in  a 
better  day  grow  stronger  year  by  year.  There  is  an 
inspiration  in  the  fact  that  we  are  getting  more  into 
accord  with  the  Universal  Church,  and  that  we  are  get- 
ting back  to  Christ’s  original  conception  of  a Kingdom 
of  Heaven  on  earth. 

It  will  not  do  with  such  wide-spread  misery  and 
degradation  prevailing  all  about  us,  it  will  not  do  for 
great  and  prosperous  churches  to  locate  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven  in  that  world  which  lies  across  the  River  of 
Death.  It  is  our  business  to  make  the  conditions  of 


i6 


human  life  more  tolerable  here  below,  to  bridge  over  the 
chasms  which  separate  the  rich  and  poor,  to  push  back 
the  tyrannical  and  deadly  forces  which  have  grown 
strong  through  our  disunion,  and  to  help  usher  in  that 
day  of  peace  which  the  angels  heralded  at  Bethlehem, 
and  that  day  of  joy  prophesied  by  the  resurrection 
morning  when  Jesus  issued  from  the  tomb.  And 
in  the  risen  and  ever-living  Christ  we  shall  find 
that  inspiration  which  we  need  for  service,  that 
assurance  that  the  militant  Church  shall  cease  its  con- 
flicts with  itself,  and  that  hope,  which  was  never  stronger 
than  to-day,  that  all  things  on  earth  and  beyond  are  yet 
to  be  made  one  in  Christ,  the  Prince  of  Peace,  the  Lord 
of  life,  the  Victor  over  death  and  discord,  the  King  of 
saints  and  the  joy  of  Heaven. 


